Controversial left-winger Mr Galloway – a former Labour MP – spent much of today tweeting his scepticism about claims the Kremlin is responsible for the nerve gas attack which left Mr Skripal and 33-year-old daughter Yulia fighting for their lives in hospital after being attacked with novichok in Salisbury.

Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn went head to head as the Prime Minister suggested Russia is either behind the attack or has lost control of its nerve agent stockpile in a statement to the House of Commons.

The Prime Minister declared Russia had 24 hours to explain what happened as the Kremlin denied involvement and warned the UK not to threaten a nuclear power.

British scientists identified the substance that Skripal and his daughter were exposed to as part of the highly-lethal Novichok group of nerve agents developed by the Soviet military in the 1970s and 1980s.

Russia has denied any role in the poisoning and says Britain is whipping up anti-Russian hysteria.

Writing on his Twitter page, Mr Galloway said: “The kind of consensual frenzy I watched in the House today, with Corbyn’s nuanced position openly derided even on his own side was chillingly familiar to me. When the Commons is unanimous it’s usually unanimously wrong.”

In a separate tweet he added: “I’m not among those who ever thought that our state believed in liberty, democracy, freedom of expression, even as were taken to wars on that pretext. But many believed it.

“They may get a rude awakening tomorrow. The price will be higher than our people are yet contemplating.”

Mr Galloway also retweeted a blog written by Craig Murray, historian and former British Ambassador to Uzbekistan, which also questioned the official line.

In it, Mr Murray wrote: “The same people who assured you that Saddam Hussein had WMD’s now assure you Russian ‘novichok’ nerve agents are being wielded by Vladimir Putin to attack people on British soil.

“As with the Iraqi WMD dossier, it is essential to comb the evidence very finely.

“She did not state that the nerve agent used was manufactured ONLY by Russia.

“She rather stated this group of nerve agents had been “developed by” Russia.

“Antibiotics were first developed by a Scotsman, but that is not evidence that all antibiotics are today administered by Scots.”

Mr Galloway’s tweet was a clear reference to the events leading up to the 2003 conflict, when then-Prime Minister Tony Blair committed British forces in the face of massive opposition from within his own party.

A Parliamentary vote approving the invasion of the Middle Eastern country was agreed almost exactly 15 years ago, on March 18, 2003, with 153 Labour MPs either voting against or abstaining.

Mr Galloway subsequently accused Mr Blair of lying to the armed forces by claiming the war would be over quickly.

He was subsequently expelled from the Labour party for urgingd soldiers to refuse to obey what he called “illegal orders”.

His words attracted plenty of support on the social media platform, with one commenting: “Let’s hope it doesn’t end the same way it did in 2003.

“If that happens, this time around there’ll be no one left alive to admit they were wrong.”

However, others were less convinced, with one saying of Mr Galloway’s reference to Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn: “Your spellcheck seems to have translated ‘weak and appeasing’ as ‘nuanced’.”